Cobb bar "Mulligans" portrays Obama as Curious George, a monkey. (Atlanta: sale, houses)

[mg83]

Originally Posted by south-to-west

Leave it to Cobb County to mess it up for the rest of Atlanta. Shortly before the Olypics, the Cobb County Commission passed a resolution condemning the "homosexual lifestyle" as being immoral and deviant as the eyes of the world watched.

I think "leave it to Clayton County to mess it up for the rest of Atlanta" or... "leave it to DeKalb County to mess it up for the rest of Atlanta" would make more sense.

An entire county loses its academic accreditation, the other has how many murders in 2008 alone? Right...

While this "bar" is obviously run by foolish, ignorant pot-stirrers, there are far bigger issues that plague this place.

[south-to-west]

Originally Posted by mg83

I think "leave it to Clayton County to mess it up for the rest of Atlanta" or... "leave it to DeKalb County to mess it up for the rest of Atlanta" would make more sense.

An entire county loses its academic accreditation, the other has how many murders in 2008 alone? Right...

While this "bar" is obviously run by foolish, ignorant pot-stirrers, there are far bigger issues that plague this place.

Seriously? In this day and age you don't think that some ignorant a-hole prouldy displaying his racism doesn't make the city look bad. Of course Clayton County's situation is disgraceful. As far as DeKalb County's crime...whatever. I can name you plenty of other places in this country with worse crime or crime that's just as bad. But the sad truth is that little ignorant stunts like the one that this bar-owner is pulling generates media coverage and it does make us look bad and backwards. Companies also notice that and may become reluctant to open offices in Cobb so it can protect some of its employees from a perceived hostile racist environment.

If you don't think that race relations affect the prosperity of a city then drive over to Birmingham. Atlanta and Birmingham were the same size in population and economy in the 60s, but during the Civil Rights Movement, one took the low road and the other took the high road. Fast forward to the 90s--when Cobb County pulled that stupid stunt of "condemning the gay lifestyle", the Olympic Committe refused to run the torch relay through there. Ten years later, many organizations that sometimes host major events in Atlanta like the NCAA's Final Four and the NFL Super Bowl threatened to stop holding events in Atlanta if Georgia didn't removed the Confederate Battle emblem from the state flag. If the state wouldn't have acted, we would have lost billions in tax revenue generated from Atlanta's lucrative tourism and convention industry. So to answer your argument--yes it does matter. It matters a lot.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by Atlantasfinest

Cobb bar protested as racist for Obama T-shirts | ajc.com (http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/cobb/stories/2008/05/13/mulligans_0514.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab - broken link)

Sounds like a publicity stunt being pulled by a red neck bar. Who cares? Given that it apparently got a certain amount of coverage, it seems to have worked.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by south-to-west

Leave it to Cobb County to mess it up for the rest of Atlanta. Shortly before the Olypics, the Cobb County Commission passed a resolution condemning the "homosexual lifestyle" as being immoral and deviant as the eyes of the world watched.

Oh, yeah...and the icing on the cake was that the commissioner who was pushing this had a daughter that was openly lesbian.

[mg83]

I didn't ask a question. Sure it matters, but the weight placed on different situations that many areas of the country deal with is a matter of personal opinion. My opinion is that an entire county losing accreditation (only the second or third district in the United States to lose it) serves as a much bigger black eye on Atlanta metro than some ridiculous pot stirrers in the affluent Cobb County.

75% of the Clayton kids live below the poverty level - to experience a blow like their schools losing accreditation is unbelievably tragic, in a city that claims to be so 'progressive'. This is the real issue. A murder every night in DeKalb county is the REAL issue in my humble opinion.

[south-to-west]

Originally Posted by mg83

I didn't ask a question. Sure it matters, but the weight placed on different situations that many areas of the country deal with is a matter of personal opinion. My opinion is that an entire county losing accreditation (only the second or third district in the United States to lose it) serves as a much bigger black eye on Atlanta metro than some ridiculous pot stirrers in the affluent Cobb County.

75% of the Clayton kids live below the poverty level - to experience a blow like their schools losing accreditation is unbelievably tragic, in a city that claims to be so 'progressive'. This is the real issue. A murder every night in DeKalb county is the REAL issue in my humble opinion.

You're absolutely correct with Clayton and DeKalb Counties--it is an absolute disgrace. Sad to say, when you add all of these events up, including the $140 million budget shortfall in Atlanta and the refusal of the state to act to solve Metro Atlanta's transportation problems--this latest incident in Cobb County really puts the icing on the cake for Metro Atlanta's current dismal state of affairs.

[K'ledgeBldr]

Call it what you want-
But, there are no degrees of the first amendment.

[buckhead]

Although it occurred over a year ago, the race for chairman of the Fulton County Commission didn't make the image of the area look better either. Democrat John Eaves used a loaded radio commercial against his Republican opponent, Lee Morris. The ad featured endorsements by Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, U.S. Representative John Lewis, and former Mayor/U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young urging voters to stop the right-wing Republican "menace" in the Commission by ensuring the victory of Democrat candidate Eaves. The ad itself used distortion, fear mongering and race baiting, especially by Lewis, who equated a victory by the Republican as a return to the days of fighting with the dogs and water hoses of the 60's, behavior which did not even occur in Atlanta and Fulton County. Mayor Franklin said right out that a victory by the Republican candidate would mean the loss of all the positive gains by Martin Luther King and others. The not-so-subtle message was that a victory by the (white) Republicans over the Democrats would mean the loss of black influence, control, and all the patronage, perks, etc. that came with it. Yes, it was just a commercial, but it was incendiary. I was very disapponted that Mayor Franklin participated in such a racially tinged attack. I was not surprised by John Lewis or Andrew Young for that matter, but overall such a blatant race-baiting ad against a consensu builder and forward thinker such as Lee Morris was indeed a slap in the face of area residents.

For those interested, here is a download link to the commercial that was played on local radio stations: http://nicholas.masterson.googlepage...g-Eaves_ad.mp3

[bayarea-girl]

OMG - people have too much time on their hands to make such ridiculous t-shirts. Are people actually purchasing these shirts? Anyways, the t-shirt is just ignorant.

VOTE OBAMA 2008.

[JasonPaul]

Although it occurred over a year ago, the race for chairman of the Fulton County Commission didn't make the image of the area look better either. Democrat John Eaves used a loaded radio commercial against his Republican opponent, Lee Morris. The ad featured endorsements by Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, U.S. Representative John Lewis, and former Mayor/U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young urging voters to stop the right-wing Republican "menace" in the Commission by ensuring the victory of Democrat candidate Eaves. The ad itself used distortion, fear mongering and race baiting, especially by Lewis, who equated a victory by the Republican as a return to the days of fighting with the dogs and water hoses of the 60's, behavior which did not even occur in Atlanta and Fulton County. Mayor Franklin said right out that a victory by the Republican candidate would mean the loss of all the positive gains by Martin Luther King and others. The not-so-subtle message was that a victory by the (white) Republicans over the Democrats would mean the loss of black influence, control, and all the patronage, perks, etc. that came with it. Yes, it was just a commercial, but it was incendiary. I was very disapponted that Mayor Franklin participated in such a racially tinged attack. I was not surprised by John Lewis or Andrew Young for that matter, but overall such a blatant race-baiting ad against a consensu builder and forward thinker such as Lee Morris was indeed a slap in the face of area residents.

For those interested, here is a download link to the commercial that was played on local radio stations: http://nicholas.masterson.googlepage...g-Eaves_ad.mp3

Yeah I remember that, I was in shock when I first heard it. This guy is an idiot but he's allowed to post whatever and in turn whatever repercussions comes from this he deserves also. He posts comments that are borderline offensive all the time. Bush as a monkey is kinda funny because he does look like a monkey, but using a monkey to represent blacks is offensive. He should have shown Obama as a parrot or something else saying something like " This guy is nuts", I wonder who that would upset. I wouldn't say this hurts Georgia though.

~~Vote None of the Above 08~~